Long-defunct gas plant cleanup appraisal set to begin

Work to assess how much environmental cleanup will be needed for Vallejo's former coal-powered manufactured gas plant is set to begin this month.

Pacific Gas and Electric, the last in the line of several plant operators dating back to Vallejo's earliest days, sought and received Vallejo City Council approval to conduct the site remediation in May.

Vallejo is one of 41 such former PG&E sites statewide the utility is voluntarily reaching out to as part of its Manufactured Gas Plant site cleanup, according to officials.

"It is exciting to get this cleaned up, because (no development) can happen there until that occurs," Vallejo Economic Development Director Ursula Luna-Reynosa said. "It's not just about getting this cleaned up, because there are different ways you can do that. It's about getting it cleaned up in the best way that will facilitate our development plans."

While PG&E is already preparing the 26-acre Vallejo property, sampling work is not scheduled to begin until the week of March 18, running through the late fall, utility spokeswoman Brittany McKannay. That work is expected to be "fairly non-intrusive" for neighbors and includes collection of soil, soil gas and groundwater, she said.

Once assessment work on the property, at 1121 Sonoma Blvd., is complete, samples will be assessed in a laboratory and a cleanup plan will be drafted for state Department of Environmental Toxic Substances Control approval, McKannay said.

Actual cleanup work could take another two years to begin at the site, McKannay said.

"We want a plan that's best for the environment and best for the community," McKannay said.

Vallejo's former manufactured gas plant, necessary until natural gas became more readily available, was put on "standby" with 7,475 customers in 1930, and torn down by 1944. Kaiser Steel later took over the land, eventually going bankrupt and selling 23 acres to the Vallejo Redevelopment Agency in 1988.

Luna-Reynosa described PG&E as "on task" when it comes to this project and holding up its end of the deal.

"They're calling meetings, they're meeting with us, they're keeping us informed -- we're aware of everything they're doing," Luna-Reynosa said Tuesday. "It's been a great experience so far, and they are not dragging their feet at all."

In fact, Luna-Reynosa said, without PG&E approaching Vallejo for this big project, "it could have taken years and years and years for it ever to have happened."

McKannay said PG&E is also in the process of public outreach to nearby business tenants and residents, to keep them informed of the project's stages.

More information is available by calling the PG&E toll-free community hotline at (866) 247-0581 or online at www.pge.com and searching for "manufactured gas plant."

Contact staff writer Jessica A. York at (707) 553-6834 or jyork@timesheraldonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @JYVallejo.